With stance, without stance

Yugu mugu (유구무구, 有構無構) is a kumdo term that can be rendered as «with stance, without stance». The glossary of the Korea Kumdo Association (대한검도회) states the principle as having a stance (gyeonumbeop, 겨눔법) and yet having none. More precisely, kumdo done with the mind is the key to victory.

• Yugu (유구, 有構): both opponents face each other in a stance.
• Mugu (무구, 無構): one is prepared to respond even without taking a stance.

A Korean source links the teaching to Miyamoto Musashi's Oryunseo (오륜서, the «Book of Five Rings»). There, the upper posture (sangdan, 상단) becomes the middle one (jungdan, 중단) if lowered slightly. The middle becomes the upper if raised slightly, and the lower posture (hadan, 하단) becomes the middle if raised a little. The side postures (jwau yeopguri jase, 좌우 옆구리 자세) can become the middle or lower one depending on position. Hence the idea that there is a stance and there is none. The same source calls it a mistake to value posture alone. It adds that a stance as a fixed form belongs to times when there is no opponent, and that on the path to victory fixed forms made by habit have no place.

Another Korean text reads it as a flexible attitude: not being bound by rules or frameworks, and adapting to rapidly changing situations.

Japanese sources, which describe the same concept in their own vocabulary, add that no stance guarantees victory against every opponent. They ask the practitioner to understand each stance's features and use them freely, and ultimately to put more weight on the stance of the mind than on that of form. They also note that for beginners, firming up the stance is most important.